Re: Deprecate and remove case-insensitive constants?

"Daniel Morris" wrote in message news:1505382004.4078127.1105791680.3A06C2FA@webmail.messagingengine.com...

On Thu, 14 Sep 2017, at 10:20 AM, Tony Marston wrote:

If the first programming languages in the first computers were case insensitive, then that should be the standard. Those who introduced case sensitive languages at a later date should be forced to justify that decision.

If the first vehicles had two wheels, then that should be the standard. Those who introduced cars with four wheels should be forced to justify that decision. If the first television was black and white, then that should be the standard. Those who introduced televisions with colour should be forced to justify that decision. If the first living organisms had single cells, then that should be the standard. Evolution should be forced to justify the decision to move to multiple cells. If light exists as a wave, then that should be the standard. When an observer collapses the wave function, then they should be forced to justify that decision. -- Daniel Morris daniel@honestempire.com

You are being deliberately awkward. While things can progress, change, improve and be added to over time, I can see no justification for removing a facility or capability just for the convenience of a miniscule number of developers. Just because the first Ford motor cars were black is no justification for saying that all cars should be black. The idea that all cars should have their ability to steer around bends be removed just because the car makers find it easier to build cars that can only run in straight lines would be just plain nonsense. Introducing case sensitivity into what is mostly a case-insensitive world just for the convenience of a few programmers I do not consider to be acceptable. It would cause more problems for far more people than the insignificant few who insist on using obscure character sets. Why should the English-speaking world be forced to suffer just because some minor languages cannot handle case folding? If the problem has already been solved with UTF8 then no other solution should be required. If the support for UTF8 needs to be enhanced in PHP then enhance it. Do not remove case-insensitive software just because it is "convenient". As was said in a Star Trek movie - the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. -- Tony Marston